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Win a Nobel Prize…or at least pretend to
The people at Nobelprize.org decided that they didn’t want children growing up not understanding the significant accomplishments honored by the Nobel Prize. By visiting the educational outreach section of the website, you can introduce your students to these accomplishments in a fun and engaging way, as well as teach your course content.

Girls on Ice sends female students on a free mountaineering expedition
For Girls on Ice, three instructors will guide nine girls between 15 and 18 years old on an 11-day mountaineering expedition on Washington state’s Mount Baker July 30 through August 9 (that is to say, not during winter — doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?).

Ask the readers: phones in class
As the benefits of smart phones become more…well, beneficial, will schools loosen their rules on phone usage in class? What’s your school’s cell phone policy? Are you doing anything with phones in class? If that’s not allowed, are you doing anything to try to change the policy? Tell us about it in the comments.

Mo’ money? Find out where federal stimulus money for education is going
This handy dandy link breaks down the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) estimates of how much money will go to each school district. Hint, the money is only for Title 1 and IDEA (Special Education). Happy spending!

JeopardyLabs.com: What’s more fun than a game show?
This is an Online Jeopardy Template, which allows users to build their own Jeopardy-style games entirely online, without the assistance of PowerPoint or other software. Oh yes, and it’s free.
Read about an educator’s journey to Africa
Dr. Larkin Powell is a wildlife ecology professor teaching at Polytechnic of Namibia as part of a Fulbright lecture/research position during 2009. Since he arrived in January, he’s been chronicling his experiences there, which you can read at his blog, Nebraska to Namibia: from Sandhills to sand dunes.

An educational behemoth does it again. Besides excellent book and book fairs, Scholastic also offers a blog described as “a daily roundup of the best resources and activities” at What’s New @ Scholastic? Of course, they mean the best resources and activities created by Scholastic, but you could do a lot worse when looking for a new teaching strategy, lesson plan, or activity.

The site is an aggregator of resources and ideas published on the various sections of the Scholastic website. Some recent and interesting posts have been about integrating Valentine’s day into the classroom. An elementary activity involves a song and a lesson about sharing, whereas a middle school lesson involves learning (school appropriate) Valentine’s day vocabulary. Another highlight is the Top 10 Activities for February. Like any other blog, you can subscribe to it using your favorite feed reader.

While it’s obviously not as cool as Instructify (have you noticed how often this phrase is used in our posts?), by checking up on What’s New @ Scholastic, hopefully you’ll find something new, and more importantly, useful. -REBECCAH HAINES

What’s New @ Scholastic?

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Inspiration is the gold standard for mind-mapping and graphic organization, and until recently, has been a licensed program tied to a machine. The company has followed the crowd to the cloud, and recently released MyWebspiration, a web-based version of the software you either have and love, or have seen and heard about and want to have a chance to love. If you are in the latter group, here’s your opportunity to get in on some Inspiration action.

Like just about any cloud-based program, you do need to create an account. Once you’ve done that, MyWebspiration is almost identical to Inspiration, although there are a few added features. Collaborating is made easier (collaborators will also need an account) and you can publish your finished product to the web, too. All of the great features of the original Inspiration are still there: toggling between mind map and outline view (a great way to teach outlining skills, by the way), templates, Rapid Fire mode, and lots of clip art to keep the kids happy. The layout and functions work virtually the same as the licensed version.

MyWebspiration is in free, public beta right now, and will eventually be a subscription service, so give it a whirl for free while you can. Make a graphic argument for why you (or your district) should pony up for the subscription while you’re there. -GRETCHEN SCHAEFER

MyWebspiration

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You’ve almost certainly got a few sports fans in your science class, and probably a few who play on one team or another for your school. Sport Science from Fox Sports Net might be a good way to teach some scientific concepts to them in a manner they can easily relate to. Athletes like Jerry Rice, boxer Chris Byrd, hockey legend Luc Robitaille and, one of my favorites, running back Maurice Jones-Drew serve as test subjects as the show demonstrates the science behind dunks, slap shots, and speed.

However, don’t assume only the athletes in your class would get a kick out of Sport Science. I myself am an avid sports fan, despite having no athletic ability of my own (similarly, I enjoy cartoons despite not being able to draw, and being a lousy cook has never discouraged me from eating). While you can’t count on everyone in your class wanting to know whether a collision between two sumo wrestlers packs more force than a punch, or whether Barry Zito’s curve ball defies physics (take one look at his ERA and you’ll know it doesn’t), Sport Science should appeal to enough kids to be useful.

The FSN site doesn’t have videos of the show, but they’re widely available on YouTube (if YouTube is banned at your school, see our entry on How to cope when your school blocks YouTube). Seeing science in action is almost always fun, and Sport Science gives you that, plus a little competition, too. -BILL FERRIS

Sport Science

We’ve all seen those fake skeletons in our high school or college biology classrooms. Some of us may have even seen other models with removable body parts. These are great, but what if we could add muscle layers, nerve layers, and circulatory systems? Would that make these models an even more valuable tool? Well, with Visual Body, you can do just that.

Argosy’s Visible Body touts itself as the best human anatomy visualization tool available today.  The Visible Body features a complete, fully interactive 3-D representation of the human body. You can add detailed models of all body systems such as the circulatory system or nervous system, all put together in amazing accuracy and detail. The Visible Body includes 3-D models of more than 1,700 anatomical structures, including all major organs and systems of the human body. It is an incredible tool you’ll have to see to truly appreciate. 

In order to use the site, you must first download and install a small application to your computer. This allows the web site to properly display all of the 3-D features of The Visible Body. The download is quick and the installation is a breeze.

This site could easily be used by all grade levels, but a quick word of caution — the 3-D representations of the human body are anatomically correct…VERY anatomically correct, so all of you elementary teachers out there may want to play with the layers a bit before showing this to your 1st grade classes.

Still not sure if this is a tool you would find useful? Argosy Publishing, the owners and creators of the tool, have created a couple of excellent “video tours” of their application. You can check out the videos here.

Not a science teacher? It doesn’t matter. If you’re human, this site is well worth your time to check out. -JERRY SWIATEK

Argosy’s Visual Body

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Visit Africa vicariously, courtesy of a professor from the University of Nebraska. Dr. Larkin Powell is a wildlife ecology professor teaching at Polytechnic of Namibia as part of a Fulbright lecture/research position during 2009. Since he arrived in January, he’s been chronicling his experiences there, which you can read at his blog, Nebraska to Namibia: from Sandhills to sand dunes. In his entries, Powell hits on several topics, including culture, environment, as well as Namibia’s scientific climate:

“Many people at our Fulbright orientation told us that Namibia is ‘Africa for beginners’ when we heard we were heading this direction. And, it’s true that the lights stay on in Namibia. There is decent internet access. The water is clean. You don’t have to bleach your vegetables before you eat them. So, the mystery is how a country can keep the lights on, but still rank below almost every other African country in terms of people that know how to design the bulbs. Sometimes, I think that perhaps they expect more out of people with less training that we do in the US. Our Polytech students get thrown into some significant positions with only a 3-year National Diploma (not a bachelor’s degree). Maybe it’s the continued help from the outside that keeps everything humming. I’m not sure I know the answer yet — it is something to keep thinking about.”

Naturally , Powell’s family made the journey to Africa with him. His 11-year-old son, Tristan’s blog gives a more personal account of moving to a far-away country, and the logistics that go with it (see the entry How I lost my pants). If you teach students around his age, they might enjoy getting a peer perspective on living halfway around the world. It might get your students more interested in science, or at the very least, world travel. -BILL FERRIS

Nebraska to Namibia: from Sandhills to sand dunes

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It’s time once again for me to harrangue you about Instructify’s comments policy. We moderate all comments, so if your brilliant reply to one of our posts doesn’t show up right away, we’re not ignoring you. We’ll approve comments as fast as we can (FYI, that usually occurs more quickly during business hours). However, once we’ve accepted your comment, you’ll be automagically approved for all future comments.

Now that you know the score, send us a comment and let us know what we’re doing right, or what we’re screwing up. Or just say hi, that’s fine, too. -BILL FERRIS

Families and teachers alike can be daunted by the sheer volume of book choices out there for early adolescent readers. Wading through the good, the bad, and the ugly may not be the way we choose to spend our own reading time, and, yet, many of us want to be informed about or even influence the book choices that our children and students make for independent reading. With bookstores dominated by massive displays for the popular Gossip Girl and Twilight series, a grown-up may need a tour guide.

Bookwise Parents recognizes these concerns and responds with a service that provides monthly book reviews organized into three categories: 1) Great books read on…; 2) Great books use caution…; and 3) Tread lightly. The book reviewers are two North Carolinians, both of whom are teachers and parents of children between the ages of 8 and 14 — the target group for this site. The sample book reviews are concise and informative, highlighting themes and messages as well as basic plot points. Each review is accompanied by icons to indicate subject matter that might be of concern: sex; drugs; violence; alcohol; and language. The usual suspects. The first three months of service are free, with subsequent monthly reviews available for $6.99.

The founders of Bookwise Parents emphasize that their intent is not to censor books for children, but rather to provide parents with the information needed to expose their children to quality books and to provide an educational context for the child when books deal with mature themes. But is that what parents will actually do? Wouldn’t it just be easier to ban Gossip Girl? Wouldn’t it just be easier to steer kids away from those quality books that happen to deal with sex because, really, who wants to have the sex talk? Although these attitudes are certainly not recommended by Bookwise Parents, parents may well take the easy road. The harder road is to take this information about books and help kids develop their own taste and media literacy as they read it all — the good, the bad, and the ugly. Before you recommend this site to parents of students in your class, consider how each family is likely to use the information about the content and quality of books out there. It may be more fruitful for certain kids to make their own discoveries about the world of books, with a little, subtle guidance from you. –ABBY MARTIN

Bookwise Parents

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A mustached man named Alex is staring at you, waiting for you to ask some sort of question. Familiar music plays in the background, and although the song has only been playing for thirty seconds, you sense that it’s almost over. The crowd watches nervously as you scribble the words “What is JeopardyLabs.com?” on an electronic touch-screen monitor.

Thirty seconds earlier, our host reads the following clue: “This is an Online Jeopardy Template, which allows users to build their own Jeopardy-style games entirely online, without the assistance of PowerPoint or other software. Oh yes, and it’s free.” To see how it works, JeopardyLabs.com gives you the opportunity to browse existing user-submitted templates, which range in subject from ‘Ancient Civilizations’ to ‘Women of Web 2.0.’ After selecting the number of teams, the familiar blue screen appears. Once you’ve picked a category and a dollar amount, the interface lets you add money to a team’s score for correct responses, and subtract money for incorrect responses, just like in the show.

Whether you decide to use someone else’s template or one that you’ve created, JeopardyLabs.com is a fun, free resource for teachers. It’s a great way to break up the monotony of routine questions and answers, and really, what classroom couldn’t benefit from doubling as a game show every once in awhile? –JIMI RADABAUGH

JeopardyLabs.com

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Unless you were living under a rock (like Mr. Snail over there), you’ve probably heard about the recent federal stimulus package. You’ve probably also heard that some of that money will be for schools and education. Now that the legislation has passed, and been signed by President Obama, you may wonder, oh reader, what does this mean for me?

This handy dandy link (provided to the writer by Larry Ferlazzo), breaks down the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) estimates of how much money will go to each school district. Hint, the money is only for Title 1 and IDEA (Special Education). Happy spending! -ALICE MERCER

Photo credit: jciv on Flickr.

Since I got an Android phone for Christmas, I’ve been yammering to anyone who will listen about how cell phones are the great technology equalizer — you can use phones to surf the internet, send email, create podcasts, share photos, as well as, you know, talk to people. Even high-end phones are much less expensive than a decent laptop, and they can fit in your pocket.

Folks in the cell phone industry feel the same way, and that’s why they’d like to see more cell phone use in schools. Matt Richtel of the New York Times deals with the issues of using phones in class in his article, Industry Makes Pitch That Smartphones Belong in Classroom.

Many educators regard students’ cell phones as mobile alert systems that let the teacher know that a student would like some detention, please. Phones also present problems ranging from cheating to increasing potential distractions in class. However, it’s hard to dispute the capabilities and cost-effectiveness of smart phones, even if the people crowing about them the loudest are doing so out of naked self-interest. The article notes that a few schools have decided to try programs in which students are issued phones for educational purposes, with positive results:

“Suzette Kliewer, the teacher who administered the Digital Millennial program at Southwest High School in Jacksonville, N.C., said the phones excited her students and made them collaborate and focus on their studies, even outside of school hours. ‘They took average-level kids and made them into honors-level kids,’ she said.

“But Ms. Kliewer also said that she spent much of her own time at night, and during weekends and holidays, monitoring the students’ phone use and occasionally disconnecting phones remotely when students broke the rules.”

Another drawback, addressed by education and technology analyst Bill Rust, is that while smart phones can do a lot, the large screens and keyboards found on computers offer an advantage that phones simply can’t overcome. If you’ve ever written a lengthy email on your phone, even if it has a keypad, you know what he means.

As the benefits of smart phones become more…well, beneficial, will schools loosen their rules on phone usage in class? What’s your school’s cell phone policy? Are you doing anything with phones in class? If that’s not allowed, are you doing anything to try to change the policy? Tell us about it in the comments. -BILL FERRIS

Industry Makes Pitch That Smartphones Belong in Classroom via the New York Times

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If there is one thing I learned from my third marriage it is this: always have a prenup. Failing that, I guess the next thing best thing is to just have so much money it doesn’t really matter. Now the question becomes, “How do I get ultra-mega rich?”

Countless late night infomercials each make their own claims about how to reach Scrooge McDuck levels of wealth, and a semi-frequent one is that you should make your money work for you. I mean, that’s a tactic Wall Street wizards use all the time—why can’t you?

The Stock Market Game is a great way for students to practice saving and investing skills, as well as build upon a lot of other subject-matter skills in the process. Some readers out there, like myself, remember doing this game the old fashioned way — our teacher gave us an imaginary cash amount and then our class tracked the investments using newspapers. This process was made even more difficult by the fact that this was the Dark Ages before we had computers, when pterodactyl attacks were all too common.

Now the game is online, allowing students to look at their portfolio, enter transactions, and research stocks and mutual funds. I’d still encourage actual newspapers in the classroom — letting a kid glean just a little insight to those confusing business section pages listing all the small numbers can be pretty empowering.

A quick note: Registration dates vary from state to state. Also, it would seem as though some spring-semester programs have already begun. By clicking through the “Registration” link, you will be able to find your local coordinator who will be able to provide you with more information about getting started. -NICK YINGLING

The Stock Market Game

Photo credit: azrainman on Flickr.

Five Best Note-Taking Tools
Back when I was a student, we had to take notes with a pen and paper. Today’s learners have a lot more options that take advantage of online technology. Lifehacker presents this list of the top five ways to take notes (don’t worry, my trust old pen and paper made the cut).

25 Tools every Learning Professional should have in their Toolbox
Another list of free tools teachers should use. Firefox, Skype, WordPress, all that stuff. You’re probably using a lot of these already. If not…well, this may not be the blog for you.

7 Things You Should Know About Digital Storytelling
Anybody with a video camera and a computer can broadcast a movie to anyone thanks to YouTube. Not surprisingly, smart teachers want to harness this technology for educational purposes. This article from Educause Learning Initiative will give you a good introduction to various forms of digital storytelling and how to use them for teaching and learning.

5 Things We Learned About Teens at TOC
The Publishing Trends Blog presents a fascinating glimpse at how teens use technology, gleaned during the Tools of Change for Publishing conference. Among them, kids don’t care about mastering a piece of software — they won’t sign up for a training seminar on Excel or Photoshop, they just want to know how to use it for the project they’re working on. To quote the article, “they’re concentrated on the outcome, not the tool.” These five discoveries may help you better understand your students’ learning process. -BILL FERRIS

One of your female students can win a free excursion on an icy glacier! Wait, where are you going?

Girls on Ice is a scientific expedition from Polar Trec, an organization that likes to send science teachers to incredibly cold places. For Girls on Ice, three instructors will guide nine girls between 15 and 18 years old on an 11-day mountaineering expedition on Washington state’s Mount Baker July 30 through August 9 (that is to say, not during winter — doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?). The Girls on Ice website describes the experience like this:

“The girls on the team learn not only about alpine geology, glaciology, and mountaineering, but they also challenge themselves and gain self-confidence in their physical, intellectual, and social abilities. Girls on Ice is the science version of a ‘language immersion’ experience — where we connect science with all aspects of daily life with the goal of creating lifelong advocates for Earth science, specifically, and the scientific process as a whole, regardless of whether or not they decide to specialize in science in college.“

Accepted girls must arrange their own transportation to Seattle, but tuition is free. Applicants are chosen not so much on their individual applications, but on what they could bring to a team as a whole, so just because little Sally doesn’t have straight-”A”s or doesn’t have a lot of money, that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t apply. That reminds me — applications are due on March 15, 2009. 

You probably have a few girls in class adventurous enough to tackle an expedition like this. It’s a great opportunity to see beautiful surroundings, have a life-changing experience, as well as to learn a lot about science. Hmm, maybe I should’ve used that as my lead instead of the glacier bit. -BILL FERRIS

Polar Trec

Quick! Name five famous discoveries honored by the Nobel Prize…(crickets chirping)….Um, Al Gore won one, right? Ask your students and you’ll likely get a similar response. The people at Nobelprize.org decided that they didn’t want children growing up not understanding the significant accomplishments honored by the Nobel Prize. By visiting the educational outreach section of the website, you can introduce your students to these accomplishments in a fun and engaging way, as well as teach your course content.

The site offers several interactive activities for each category of Nobel Prize — physics, chemistry, literature, medicine, peace, and economics. There are games, readings, and simulations in each section. In my class, I’ve used the blood typing game to help students understand the differences between blood types. In the physics section, there is an interesting simulation about microscopes. By using this, you could show students what the different types of microscopes can do. There is also a microscope quiz that could be used to assess understanding. Another neat feature is the readings. In the DNA-RNA-Protein reading, for example, you can select a “Basic” or an “Advanced” text. This would be excellent for differentiating instruction.

Lest you think this site is only good for Science, there is a section about the Nobel Prize in Literature, and a game about William Golding’s classic, Lord of the Flies. I’m kind of a science gal, so I didn’t do so hot on that game; maybe your high school English students will do better. Regardless, you will find this site useful. -REBECCAH HAINES

Educational Games via Nobelprize.org

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